The sun rose with a hopeful glow,
Bathing the rock and sand with gold.
The sea rolled its white ribbons like snow
Across pebbles of sand that shifted and rolled
Under a walker deep in thought, whose mind was filled
With dreams and needs, whose heart cried in prayer.
A shell was held to ear, a shell from which tears would spill,
As steps were deepened by a burden needing to be shared.
A pair of shoes lay discarded at surf’s edge.
Lay alone as narrow steps followed the shore.
The sun rose higher, the sea falling closer to its bed,
And a discarded shell bobs where its home was no more.
Then a prayer is murmured to the one who is always close.
And the sun rose over sandy prints: two striding, two shuffling, together,
Until the sun set closer to the sea and the breeze rose,
Giving a cooling relief as love took over
And washed at the deep prints in the sand
And while the setting sun painted the sea with a golden glow,
The burden was taken and the pain held in hand,
In a manner and style only a loving Father would show.
Tom Watson, 2009
When I read this to my sister over the phone, she said she liked it but then voiced her concern about what happened to the shoes left alone...I laughed about it but then I began to think about her concern and the following came to me
It could be almost any beach, any shore
Where sand is licked by hungry waves
Making the shaped prints to return as before,
Leaving only ripples of smiles move with pushes the sea gives.
On these shores, many shoe pairs lay,
Removed as burdens of a world that heavily weigh
Upon the souls and hearts finding comfort as they pray;
Shoes, and burdens, laced or slip on, waiting to be lost at the end of the day.
Where bare feet touch now, upon destiny’s sands,
Another pair appears to walk alongside, and love is shared,
As the sea gently lifts a lace, then two, from the foamy land,
The shoes float away, as the burden is lift by the One who cares.
Thomas Watson, 2009